India's Sun Pharma hit by USFDA ban

As per the FDA, an 'import alert' results in the detention without physical examination of drugs from firms that have not met the current good manufacturing practices

The FDA action against Sun Pharma comes amid a rash of regulatory sanctions against Indian generic makers in the last year

Singapore: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has imposed a ban on imports from generic drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries plant at Karkhadi in Gujarat, in the latest quality blow for the country's drug sector.

The shares of the country's biggest drugmaker by value Sun Pharma, sharply fell by a margin of 6.4 percent during the week after the FDA's 'import alert', which appeared on Wednesday on the agency's website. The Karkhadi plant makes both drug ingredients and formulations, according to Sun Pharma's 2013 annual report.

The FDA action against Sun Pharma comes amid a rash of regulatory sanctions against Indian generic makers in the last year, triggering concerns about the quality of the medicines supplied by India's $14 billion drug industry to countries including the US, the biggest market. The FDA has also banned all the India plants of Ranbaxy Laboratories.